With the rising costs of fuel I find myself having to decide
if the cost of traveling to a ride is worth going to a ride. Guess
I am wondering if there are others out there that are running up against
the same decision. I live in an area that unfortunately we don't
have a lot of rides close by. So in the past few years it has not
been uncommon for myself and other local riders to have to travel
anywhere from 400 to 600 miles one way to go to a ride. That can
make the cost of a weekend fun trip to do a 50 mile ride really
expensive. I am not whining here and I know some of the
solutions. One being become a ride manager and manage a ride close
to home. I have no desire to be a manager though ;-) . I am
starting to consider multi day rides more which help cut down on
traveling costs rather than going to single day rides. There is
also the buddy system of traveling together which is an option that
I have done and can do, but I really like taking my own rig which
is really set up for a single horse and traveler.
I was really excited for the ride season a couple months ago and
had on my schedule about seven rides that I wanted to do. As the
fuel prices rise I find myself deciding that maybe that ride 500 miles
away, and this is including the AERC Championship ride, is really not
that important. Sigh!!!! I am now down to hopefully doing
four rides this year, one of them being the Owyhee multiday in
October. Hummm wonder if my mare can do all five days?
So guess I am not looking for comfort or solutions, but just
wondering if others are feeling the pinch and starting to make those
tough decisions about doing rides this year too.
